All those things are luxuries. It’s like saying you’re broke when you have two new leased Audi’s on the drive and take three foreign holidays a year. The solution is don’t go on nights out and spend £100, or buy luxury items if you’re worried about your outgoings. £50k a year is far above both the mean and average wage in the UK and reckon on 75% of the UK earning less, many less than half that and managing to get by.
The salary question?
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What's a luxury? Holidays and nights out are nice to have, but i'm not sure they're classed as luxuries.
I went for £300 for car including insurance and tax etc so that's not going to be anything extravegant.
You're kind of re-confirming my point. Yes, you're not going to be worried about your outgoings at that salary level, and can afford the odd splurge, but it's certainly not at a level where you are able to not think about what you're spending.
I haven’t been on a foreign holiday since......2004. I think. I did go to Silverstone for the F1 in 2017 with my son but that was bankrolled by shares maturing. No way I could afford that at the moment, never mind doing it yearly. To millions of people, and not just families either, a foreign holiday is most definitely a luxury and to many far beyond them financially.
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I manage to go on holiday about 3 times a year but then again I have nos shares,, I guess you will be richer in the future.
Ha I doubt that, they only restarted the sharesave this year so it’ll be three years before I get anything.
To be fair, i'd argue a UK holiday is just as expensive if not more so than a foreign holiday
In some ways it can be yes, but it depends what you want. A week self catering on the Costa del sol or two weeks in Bali fully inclusive. Both a foreign holiday, vastly different prices!To be fair, i'd argue a UK holiday is just as expensive if not more so than a foreign holiday
After pensions/student loan it's more like 2.7k. I'm not saying it's a low salary or anything but it's only just enough to maybe get a mortgage on an average house. Ultimately I want an average house and a supercar, so need to work that bit out
.EDIT: Opened a can of worms haven't I.
Doesnt really bother me talking about salaries, i certainly dont earn enough to brag about although its above the average UK salary OF 26K I think it is? london salaries may boost that.
As i started to go through the ranks in my industry and earning more money, buying nice cars the latest phones etc. . but now I have realised its much better to have a bit of money in the bank, I now drive a much older car than i did a few years ago, i have a cheap phone whereby i just pay for a Sim card. My mortgage is a lot cheaper than the people who rent next door to me. I could afford a mortgage twice as much but i no longer play (keeping up with the jones's) i have an old loan which will be paid off next year and then im debt free apart from the house. I see people driving brand new mercs and BMW's which i could get, but it just doesnt appeal to me anymore. Living comfortably is far more appealing. With all the economic uncertainty at the moment and people panicking about being able to pay bills whereby, if i was made redundant today, I could afford to live for the next 6 months. sounds a bit sad doesnt it? i dont judge people for flaunting a bit, i was certainly guilty of it 5years ago. However, 9 times out of 10, the people flaunting it probably live payday to payday.
As i started to go through the ranks in my industry and earning more money, buying nice cars the latest phones etc. . but now I have realised its much better to have a bit of money in the bank, I now drive a much older car than i did a few years ago, i have a cheap phone whereby i just pay for a Sim card. My mortgage is a lot cheaper than the people who rent next door to me. I could afford a mortgage twice as much but i no longer play (keeping up with the jones's) i have an old loan which will be paid off next year and then im debt free apart from the house. I see people driving brand new mercs and BMW's which i could get, but it just doesnt appeal to me anymore. Living comfortably is far more appealing. With all the economic uncertainty at the moment and people panicking about being able to pay bills whereby, if i was made redundant today, I could afford to live for the next 6 months. sounds a bit sad doesnt it? i dont judge people for flaunting a bit, i was certainly guilty of it 5years ago. However, 9 times out of 10, the people flaunting it probably live payday to payday.
I don't like to ask people what they earn, it's rude and what another person makes is none of my business really. As they say, "what you eat doesn't make me S*". However I don't mind sharing what I earn if someone asks a question to wonder what they should be getting. Though I'd always round down rather than up
Blimey @Marvt74 £400 a month on council tax :O Are you paying for your next door neighbour too?
That isn't what he said.
Blimey @Marvt74 £400 a month on council tax :O Are you paying for your next door neighbour too?
I did say Council tax and other utilities.
I was just glancing at my spreadsheet.
I've got
Council Tax £195 (Obviously would've been reduced in my example for a single person)
Gas/Electric £110
Water £35
Tv Licence - £13
Broadband - £40
Mobile - £15
Life Insurance - £25
Building/Content Insurance - £40 (Again it's probably higher than most due to a few additional items)
I know for different people those will all change around as people spend more/less but i thought £400 was a reasonable catch-all.
Although my spreadsheet lies, because according to it, we have a very decent amount of money leftover each month (even factoring in what feels like a generous allowance for "General" spending, and yet that money never materialises at the end of each month!)
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“Um... a malt Glen Garry for me and my friend here. And if you tell that bartender to go extra easy on the water, this 50 cent piece has your name on it.”
That's when you know you earn enough
That's when you know you earn enough
“Um... a malt Glen Garry for me and my friend here. And if you tell that bartender to go extra easy on the water, this 50 cent piece has your name on it.”
That's when you know you earn enough
You're so money, and you don't even know it.
Ah my bad! That's a fair point. I blame the food shop for the missing money in my what should be allowance each month. The odd bottle of wine here, case of beers there etc.
I think it just goes to show the more you earn the more you spend on things you probably would not have when you earned less. Give a person earning 20k a 50k year salary and they will feel very wealthy. In a year or two it will just be the norm and they will be in the same boat everyone else is in.
Same situation as me.
Used to drive expensive cars on finance and got bored of that game. Although I never felt like I was doing it to keep up with anyone, I just wanted to go faster... now I'm older there's less appeal.
Now I have an oldish BMW with no finance and my partners Mini is almost paid off too (but massively in positive equity anyway), there's a mental weight off your shoulders when that happens too.
I'm not about having no luxuries (and I'm not going to debate what that term even means), but the last couple of years for me have really shown what I want vs what I need.
Ditto - I use Microsoft Money for checking, reconciling, and budgets for the month, and they never seem to match up to what we have lined up!
Nail = head.
Hedonistic adaptation.
If I was on my salary now when I was 21 I'd have felt like I'd won the lottery, but here I am budgeting every month (which you should probably do at any level of income in all fairness), and deciding not to buy certain things even though I can afford them.
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Pretty much sums it up. My wife in on maternity and due her companies absolutely shocking maternity package we have lost out 10k easily on her salary but have not really felt it as we have just cut back on things. Covid lockdown has helped a lot i must say with that!
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There is a YT channel call Graham Stefan, he has popped up on other videos here and there and his channel is mostly about finances, stocks, credit cards etc but part of the reason I watch it isn’t about keeping up with stocks or the market (it’s very US centric anyway) but the perspective of money. The guy is a millionaire, he was one before he was 25 I think by working hard and spends like he is on $20k a year. He created his own meme in 20cents coffee, even made an entire video on it. He would get a few drinks in before going out so not to spend money on expensive drinks, only eat sushi at happy hour etc etc. Lots of way to keep the daily expenses down. What he spends on are things that retains equity, like property, stocks & shares. The ethos is to resist living the high life matching your bank balance, so that bank balance keeps growing.
I don't agree with the philosophy of sorting out your smaller expenses. I doubt that's the reason he was a millionaire at 25.
Most people are trying to cut down on their little expenses like coffee, or sushi, for example, whilst forgetting the fact that they paying silly money on a 30 year mortgage on a house they don't particularly need, with two brand new cars on the drive...
I've never agreed with the phrase of looking after the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves. Put your finances into a table and sort the bigger stuff out first I think.
I ain't going to feel guilty about a £3 coffee whilst the car payment is £350 per month (I don't spend £3 on coffees nor have a £350 car payment, but you get the picture).
I'll check out his channel though @Raymond Lin - always enjoy getting different perspectives on money.
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